[U.S. Court Rules FBI Not Responsible for Erasing Hard Drive Potentially Containing 3,400 Bitcoins] BlockBeats News, November 6: A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals determined that the FBI is not responsible for erasing a hard drive that allegedly contained over 3,400 bitcoins, as the convicted owner of the hard drive never informed the government about the tokens. The central figure in the case, Plame, previously served time for identity theft and applied to the court in July 2022 to have the hard drive containing the bitcoins returned after his release. However, the FBI had already erased the hard drive as part of its standard procedures. Plame claimed this action was illegal and filed an appeal. The judge ultimately stated that Plame waited too long to file his complaint and that his statements were inconsistent, casting doubt on whether he truly owned the bitcoins. Before reaching a plea agreement in November 2019 and serving his sentence, Plame claimed to own "approximately 3,500 bitcoins." After being incarcerated, Plame changed his statement, and in February 2020, his financial disclosure report submitted to the government indicated that he only owned a few thousand dollars' worth of bitcoin. According to Glassnode data, approximately 1.46 million BTC (nearly 7% of the total supply) may have been permanently lost. Meanwhile, a 2018 report by Chainalysis estimated that the number of permanently lost bitcoins could be as high as 3.7 million, accounting for over 17.5% of the total supply.